"Heavenly Emperor Temple, you people of Isgray City are truly interesting. It’s the year 2077, yet you still have these relics from hundreds of years ago."
Alfred headed north, chatting with his viewers while appreciating the increasingly rich local customs and traditions.
But it wasn’t just him; even the viewers in the chat were bewildered. After all, for people of this era, such architectural styles, which disappeared with the widespread use of modular cities decades ago and could only be seen in specific thes in virtual communities, were truly a rare sight.
As everyone was discussing the architectural style and practicality, Alfred’s terminal suddenly rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and a smile appeared on his lips as he said,
"A call from the manager. Can it be that this guy’s reaction ti is so delayed?"
Amidst laughter in the chat, he answered the call, but before he could say "Hello," a voice on the other end burst out,
"Alfred, where are you now? Hurry back to the company!"
With a look on his face that said he was not surprised at all, Alfred nonchalantly replied, "Who are you? I’m off work. If there’s anything, let’s talk tomorrow."
"I don’t have ti for nonsense. The client just called. They have new feedback on the proposal you sent them. Get to the company now!"
The manager’s voice was urgent, but Alfred didn’t care at all. He leisurely said,
"Sorry, I don’t work overti. We’ll discuss it after work tomorrow. If you’re in a hurry, you can make the changes yourself."
"You can’t just..."
"Beep—!" Not waiting for the manager to finish his threat, Alfred hung up the communication. Then, in front of all the viewers, he set the manager’s number to be blocked during off hours on the terminal operations interface.
"Done, mood-spoiling guy sorted, let’s continue."
Alfred clapped his hands as if he had just dealt with so cockroach or fly and calmly walked towards the distant Heavenly Emperor Temple, causing a commotion in the chat.
"Damn, even though I know it’s fake, why does it feel so satisfying?"
"I know the Strear’s confidence cos from having money, but why does it still feel good?"
"Imrsion, the Strear incorporated imrsion."
"The Strear understands empathy."
A considerable number of comnts surged toward Feng Xue with the chat, but he unhesitatingly threw them into Kaidan Fire. This ti, he didn’t intend to create any Kaidan. In fact, with his current persona, whether it was creating a big shot or an ordinary worker, there were no benefits, only various weaknesses.
After adjusting his mindset slightly, he resud the persona of Alfred. At this mont, a paifang with the words Heavenly Emperor Temple written on it appeared in front of him.
Yes, the Heavenly Emperor Temple wasn’t an ancestral hall but the na of a district. On this street, various stores and stalls were unevenly distributed, from gambling stones and seeds to antique stamps, creating a ghost market vibe like an antique street.
Although such places existed in cities with a bit of history in the early 21st century, in this world, they were quite rare. Cyber people, accustod to online shopping and at most visiting physical stores and specialty shops, found the various street stalls amusing, while Alfred put on a peculiar expression and softly said,
"It’s a bit different from what I imagined."
Speaking so, he walked towards a stall with unknown small boxes and asked,
"What are you selling?"
"Power Pills." The stall owner glanced up at Alfred and uttered a term unfamiliar to cyber people. Seeing his confused look, he then explained,
"This stuff cures all ailnts. As long as you’re not missing an arm, leg, or heart, it even cures cyber spirit disorders!"
"What nonsense!"
"Exactly, after all the years Rhein Life and Loken have researched, they haven’t solved cyber spirit disorders, and you dare say you can cure it from a street stall?"
"Swindler, right?"
"Looks like a fraud!"
The chat erupted in activity, and Alfred shook his head, saying,
"I heard the Heavenly Emperor Temple sells local specialties? Do you know where exactly?"
"Local specialties?" The stall owner rolled his eyes, then said with a perplexed expression,
"You’re so young, why rush? If you’re feeling weak, two of my pills are better than wasting money elsewhere!"
"Just tell where!" Alfred’s expression slightly stiffened, and the man pointed northwards,
"Keep going forward, there are three store fronts. Go to Tai Sui Palace for ’Treatnt,’ Yisuan Hall for ’Fate Inquiry,’ and Taibai Mansion for ’Hunting.’ My Power Pills are made of sight at. Although mixed, they’re cheap. Whether you need sight at treatnt or not, it’s already not affordable for ordinary office workers."
"Thanks." Alfred nodded at these words and imdiately walked north along the street, saying,
"Judging from the stall owner’s words, the main products at Heavenly Emperor Temple are ’Treatnt,’ ’Fate Inquiry,’ and ’Hunting.’ Since he ntioned Power Pills are related to Tai Sui Palace, the so-called ’Treatnt’ might actually be healing. However, normal dical solutions wouldn’t be handled at an illegal place; there must be more to it."
"Could it be organ hunting?"
"Stop it, whether bionic organs or cloned cultivation, aren’t they all better than using others’? Watched too many old dical dramas?"
"Exactly, but speaking of dical conspiracies... could it be smuggled dicine or equipnt?"
"Maybe it’s patented imitation dicine?"
"Let’s just go and see." While Alfred used a small account to guide viewers with comnts, he reached the end of the street. Seeing three establishnts that seed more like temples than stores, he first entered the busiest Tai Sui Palace.
Upon entering, a row of windows resembling a hospital registration area greeted him. Behind them were won constantly handing out large packages to paying custors.
Noticing Alfred didn’t seem ready to make a purchase, a professional-suited woman approached, wearing a business-like smile and said, "Hello, how can I assist you?"
"What do you sell here?"
Although Alfred’s question seed like asking "what can you do here" at a hospital, the woman maintained her professionalism, softly explaining,
"Tai Sui Palace sells sight at, with a tender texture and fresh taste. It can activate cell totipotency with high dicinal and tonic value..."
"Damn, thought it was sothing else! Is it so endangered animal?"
"Just this? Just this? Just this?"
Seeing the energetic chat, Alfred quickly noticed a man with a chanical artificial right arm retrieved a fist-sized package from a neighboring counter.
However, instead of leaving quickly like the others, he tore the package open in the shop and stuffed the pale pink gelatinous mass into his mouth.
"Damn, looking like that, is it so dopamine supplent? Isn’t that exclusive?"
As the comnt appeared, other comnts partly typed stopped in their tracks, as in that very mont, every viewer fell into a daze—
In front of them, for no apparent reason, the right hand of the man who had eaten the "sight at" fell to the ground, and with the wriggling of flesh buds, his missing arm grew anew!
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